Family considers lawsuit after photo goes viral of grandmother sitting in vomit at nursing home

A local man posted a picture to Facebook showing a woman in a wheelchair covered in throw up and towels. He said the woman had been sitting there, neglected, for several hours. The photo went viral, the family of the woman heard about it, and the family is now considering a lawsuit.

A local man posted a picture to Facebook showing a woman in a wheelchair covered in throw up and towels. He said the woman had been sitting there, neglected, for several hours. The photo went viral, the family

A local man posted a picture to Facebook showing a woman in a wheelchair covered in throw up and towels. He said the woman had been sitting there, neglected, for several hours. The photo went viral, the family of the woman heard about it, and the family is now considering a lawsuit.

A local man posted a picture to Facebook showing a woman in a wheelchair covered in throw up and towels. He said the woman had been sitting there, neglected, for several hours. The photo went viral, the family

Family considers lawsuit after photo goes viral of grandmother sitting in vomit at nursing home

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A local family is considering a lawsuit against a San Antonio nursing home after a photo went viral on Facebook showing their grandmother sitting in her wheelchair covered in vomit, allegedly having been neglected for several hours by Legend Oaks Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center staff.

The photo was posted Saturday by a visitor to the nursing home and it quickly gained attention, racking up more than 13,750 shares. The family eventually caught wind of it, and on Monday they retained a lawyer for a potential lawsuit.

Glenn W. Cunningham said he is still investigating the case and will need to speak more with the man who posted the photo and the family before filing a lawsuit, but initial facts seem to suggest an "egregious situation."

"This was the embodiment of abuse and neglect," Cunningham said. "When families entrust their loved one to a nursing home, they're trusting that nursing home to care for their loved one with dignity and respect. In this situation, as is apparent by the picture, it does not appear that (the woman) was treated with dignity and respect."

The 126-bed nursing home, located at 2003 West Hutchins Place, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The picture was taken by Jacob Longoria, who was at the nursing home Thursday to visit his uncle.

He arrived around 7:30 p.m. and noticed the woman in the picture sitting in her wheelchair asking for help. The staff nearby ignored her, he said.

He spent about an hour with his uncle then left to get something to eat. When he came back around 9:30, the woman was still sitting in the hallway, this time covered in her own vomit, he said. The floor around her was covered as well, he added.

Thinking maybe she had just become sick a moment ago, Longoria passed by her and returned to spend more time with his uncle. About 30 or 45 minutes later when he was leaving, the woman was still in the same spot. Towels had been tossed on the floor and on the woman, but the staff was still ignoring her, Longoria claimed.

"They were just sitting there," Longoria told mySA.com. "I asked at the desk if somebody would assist her and they said when they had time."

He snapped a photo for evidence and later mentioned it to a number of friends. They urged him to block out the face of the woman and share the photo on Facebook, and within days the photo had gone viral.

A person who identified himself as an administrator at the facility reached out to Longoria on Facebook shortly after the picture was posted. He told Longoria he had spoken with the family and requested that the pictures be removed to respect the family's privacy of the family, according to Longoria.

Later, the family reached out to Longoria and thanked him for sharing the photos, acknowledging they never would have known about the treatment had he not. They told him to leave the photos up, he said.

Since his post, several others have reached out to share similar stories of instances at Legend Oaks, Longoria said.

The family could not be reached for comment. It wasn't clear whether the woman was still at the nursing home.

"Legend Oaks is a skilled nursing facility that provides custodial care to residents," Cunningham said. "And so they are obligated, by both law and contract, to meet the care of their residents. It's not like this woman required some sort of extra or out-of-the-ordinary care. This was basic custodial care. The provision of basic dignity. To clean her after she had vomited on herself and when she was unable, because of her condition, to clean herself."

If the family does decide to pursue legal action, it will be at least 60 days before a lawsuit is filed due to Texas law, Cunningham said.

In a private Facebook message sent to Longoria, the Legend Oaks administrator told him the facility was investigating the accusations.

"The facility is unwaveringly committed to the health and well-being of each resident it has the privilege to serve, and it is our expectation that all residents receive quality care during the course of their admission here," he said. "If we learn that this did not occur, as you have suggested, appropriate action will be immediately taken to correct the situation."

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is currently investigating the situation, a spokesperson confirmed.

In a July 2018 inspection, the facility was cited for 13 violations (one more than the Texas average of 12), and over the past three years, the state has received five complaints about the facility, state records say.

Inspection violations included failure to provide quality services, failure to provide "care and services to get or keep the highest quality of life possible" to residents, and failure to properly care for residents special needs, state records show.